


Forever and Beyond

by Rina_san28



Series: Remade [20]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Healing, Master Sword (Legend of Zelda), Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Retirement, so many puppies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 06:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20990447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: It's been a very long time, but our heroes have earned their retirement.And so it ends.





	Forever and Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of our tale. Enjoy this final installment, and I'll see you at the finish. 
> 
> This takes place 35 years after the fall of Calamity Ganon.

Hateno Village was beautiful in spring. It bustled, larger now with the decades safely placed between them and the Calamity, and newly-built homes dotted the mountainsides. The shops had expanded and increased in variety, and Zelda delighted in walking through the brightly-colored streets, much more like home to her than the castle had ever been. She had _lived_ here, free and unrestricted. Not very many princesses could claim that. Then again, she had always beaten the odds.

Today, Zelda leaned on the fence, watching the village littles run around. Their game of tag had long since turned into a wild chase, the rules of which only they knew. Her attention was diverted, however, as one of the children, a little girl with a shock of red hair, skidded to a stop in front of her.

“Nana! Nana Nana Nana!” She paused to catch her breath. “Is Poppy still gonna make cookies later?”

“Yes, he is,” Zelda said, carding a hand through her granddaughter’s hair in a fruitless attempt to work out the tangles, “though you have to eat them until after dinner.”

“But Nana-”

“You know the rules, Astrid,” she said. She made a show of looking around, then leaned closer to the girl. “However, if you ask Poppy very nicely, he might forget you took one.”

Astrid’s eyes went comically wide in realization. “Ohhh, I get it.” One of the other children called her name. “My turn! GottagoNanaloveyoubye!” With that, she sprinted off again, screeching in unintelligible delight.

“She gets that from you,” Zelda said amusedly to the woman next to her. “That and that wild hair of yours.”

Elliana grinned, a wide and wild thing she’d never grown out of. “Aw, Mum, you say that as if it’s a bad thing!” Her own untamable hair was tied in a haphazard bun, her third attempt at containing it for the day. “Her obsession with bugs is all you, though.”

“She has good taste,” Zelda said with a shrug.

When she’d been a girl, the legacy her tutors prepared her for was one of a princess victorious, known for felling the beast that had plagued her family for millennia. She was to be a holy warrior and, one day, a queen. And of course, her nursemaid reminded her, one day she would marry a handsome knight and bear brave boys to carry on his line and wise girls to carry on her own. It was a story that had oft repeated through her history. Once she’d sealed away the Calamity, however, she had written her own ending. She liked it far better than the endings to any of her childhood storybooks.

A loving husband, as tired of duty as she was. Loyal friends, always there when they were needed. Three children – a wild daughter, a mild daughter, and a son whose heart lay in the saddle. Most importantly, there was no line to carry, no burden to pass on. Her children grew and prospered in peace.

She smiled as she heard whistling coming down the hill behind them. “I believe we’re about to have company.”

“At least it’s welcome company,” Ellie said, rolling her eyes. “If Buliara’s daughters show up in our kitchen one more time, I think Makeela might have a stroke. They’ve picked up on their mother’s overprotective nature.”

Zelda laughed, then turned to greet the newcomer. “I always said you looked attractive with a baby on your hip.”

Link winked at her. “Well then,” he said, “I must be blowing your mind right now because I have two!” He bounced the twin girls in question, sending them into infectious giggles.

“You could at least share,” Zelda said. She pecked him on the cheek as she stole one baby away. “Weren’t you baking?”

“I finished,” he said. “These two woke up just as packed away the last few cookies, so I brought them down.”

“Nola would’ve started to fuss soon, so good call.” Ellie gazed at her daughters and for a moment Zelda was thrown back in time to when it was Ellie in Link’s arms. How things changed.

Time, of course, had marched on. Her children grew and, one by one, fled the nest. Elliana had been the first, moving down to the Gerudo Desert to pursue her one childhood companion who had always intrigued her. (How delighted Urbosa had been for their families to finally unite in law, Zelda remembered. The old warrior still preened for her keen matchmaking, however little she had actually been involved.) Caelan had been second, spending weeks at a time riding around the continent, and sweet Pippa had been last, finally seduced by the potential of the castle’s miraculously intact archives.

The most glaring differences were in Link and herself. Link had gone silver seemingly all at once, while Zelda’s blonde was slowly streaked with snowy white. Crow’s feet fixed themselves at the corners of their eyes, joints stiffened and creaked, and old scars stung and ached with the weight of life. Both were still in their prime, but they had fought battles and now they paid the price.

She was pulled out of her memories by a sharp tug on her hair. She gave wee Leya a distracted smile, untangling the strands from the baby’s fingers with practiced hands.

“Are you alright?” Ellie asked. “You seemed distant.”

“Just reminiscing, I suppose,” Zelda said. “I’m old.”

“You aren’t old, just experienced.” Pippa had snuck up behind her, just as light on her feet as her father. “Besides, it’s your birthday! You’re allowed to reminisce.”

_I feel old. Stretched, even. _

The conversation was cut short by delighted squealing; Caelan had joined the chaos in the square, playing the monster and chasing the children about. He swung his niece high up above his head, then pretended to chew on her.

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Are you sure he’s twenty-five? Absolutely certain?”

“I know when your brother was born, Elliana. I was there.” Zelda handed off Leya to Pippa’s eager arms as Link returned Nora to Ellie’s. “We’ll be back. Call me if anyone breaks themselves.” The two of them started up the hill to the house, a small chorus of _yes, Mum_’s floating up behind them.

Link, ever watchful, didn’t say anything until they were inside. “The castle has you again, doesn’t it?”

Zelda slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs. “I just can’t shake it! It’s been thirty-five years since we vanquished the Calamity for good, and there are still mornings that I wake up and all I can hear is _him._” She sighed. “I am one hundred and fifty-four years old today, my love, and I feel every moment of it.”

“I just turned one hundred and fifty-five,” Link said as he busied himself making tea. “We’re record holders, you and I.”

“Hylians aren’t meant to live this long,” she grumbled.

“To be fair, both of us spend most of those hundred-some years in suspended animation,” he pointed out, “so we look great for our age.”

She snorted. “True.”

The kettle let out a sharp whistle, which was promptly followed by a _thump_ and a series of skitters from the back room.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Zelda said, standing and going to the gate in the doorway. “You woke the babies!” She swung it open, freeing the eight puppies from their bondage. The adorable pack was quick to bring her to their level. “Hello, darlings!” she cooed. “How were your naps?”

Link rolled his eyes as he set their cups on the table. “I still can’t believe we have eight.”

“We couldn’t just leave them there!”

He rolled his eyes again, but didn’t argue. Instead, he pulled her from the floor and pushed the tea into her hands. “Drink. You’ll feel better.”

“You know me too well,” she said, pecking him on the cheek.

“That’s marriage, sweetheart.”

\-----

Night brought a blissful silence. Only crickets and nightbirds sung in the darkness, and Zelda reveled in it.

One hundred years of hellish noise made one value the quiet moments.

There were still many places to go, much left to do. She wasn’t nearly done yet, not with so much to explore. She was still young in body, still able to run and climb and do all of the things she had been robbed of for so long.

Link wrapped an arm around her. “A rupee for your thoughts?”

“I suppose,” she teased, but leaned into the embrace. Even so, she paused. “Are you sure you want to take it back?”

“It’s time,” he said. “She told me so, and I trust Her.”

The two of them gazed at the Master Sword, hanging on the wall, the faintest energy pulsing from its sheathed blade. It had lived for millennia, wielded by their ancestors in the most dire of circumstances.

What a beautiful retirement lay ahead for it.

Zelda let out a yawn. “When do you want to leave?”

“Maybe the day after tomorrow,” Link replied. “It won’t be a long ride, but I’d rather get it done before winter comes. The woodland paths are terrible in snow.”

“Pippa already offered to watch the pups,” she said.

He snorted. “You mean she begged to watch them.”

“Don’t complain or we’ll bring them all along.”

“I’m not complaining, I’m just saying!”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while, peaceful together. Finally, Link sighed and pressed a kiss to his wife’s crown. “We should sleep. There’s a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Mmm, I don’t want to think about that, thank you,” Zelda said, but she headed to the stairs anyway. She took one step up before glancing back. “I love you, you know that?”

Link grinned, scars stretching in the dim light. “I would fight through forever and beyond to stay by your side, darling.”

Her smile shone brighter than the sun. “I would never want you anywhere else.”

**Author's Note:**

> **Writing Notes:**
> 
> 1) Grandchildren galore! As of right now, there are only three and all are Elliana's: Astrid, Leya, and Nora.  
2) Ellie married Riju after YEARS of awkward crushing on both sides. Link, Zelda, and Urbosa were all so relieved.  
3) Caelan is the Cool Uncle.  
4) No one would come out of what Link and Zelda did without some form of PTSD. That's some traumatic stuff!  
5) Moose is unfortunately long gone, but Zelda's obsession with dogs will never die, hence why they've adopted a litter of orphaned puppies.  
6) In case it isn't clear, Link received a dream from Hylia telling him that the danger has passed, the monsters are gone, and it is time for the Master Sword to return to its pedestal - for good.  
7) As a reminder, this universe was sort of inspired by one particular line in the final battle against Calamity Ganon which says that he's sacrificed the rest of his reincarnations for one last shot at Hylia's Chosen. With that in mind, Link, Zelda, and their descendants are safe from him for the rest of time. 
> 
> Thank you so much for going on this journey with me. You have all supported me through a fairly traumatic year-and-a-half of my life by letting me share this story with you, and I will be forever grateful. This series has meant the world to me. I may write more Legend of Zelda stories, but this series is officially closed. I love you all, and you are wonderful. 
> 
> If you'd like to keep up with me or just say hi, I can be found on Tumblr as rina-san28! Or, if you'd like to follow more of my writing, I also have an Overwatch series and a good deal of works in the Tolkien universe. I hope to see you all again soon!


End file.
